Day 47- Ushering in a First

On Sunday mornings, after I teach Sunday School, I go to my office and look over my sermon notes for about 15 minutes until it is time for morning worship service.  This helps me transition out of the Bible Study teaching mode into the sermon preaching mode.  I don't want to get confused and preach my Sunday School lesson.

Today, instead of going to my office and looking over my sermon notes, I went to the front of the church and was a greeter.  That was my "first" for today. 

We have some real nice guys that greet people as the come into the church each Sunday. They smile, shake hands, and hand them a bulletin (church information like the order of worship, announcements, and sermon notes).  So, I went out to the church foyer and helped greet people.  Since I'm usually in my office, I don't get to greet people as they arrive. It was pretty fun to do that today.

My photographer gives me a different angle on greeting people

Greeting one of God's precious ones

Me welcoming you to church

The pastor gets a little over zealous with the whole greeting thing

I was impressed with how well our guys do at greeting people. I told them I wanted to help greet and hand out bulletins this morning. So, they let me give the next person that came in a bulletin, but after that, I had to hustle to be first or they would have already greeted the person and handed them a bulletin. They do a great job.

One of the things I pray for at Hopewell is that people will experience the presence of the Holy Spirit when they drive on the grounds and walk into the building. It is not unusual for someone to tell me that they felt the Holy Spirit when they walked into the church.  I truly believe one of the factors that helps that is when people are greeted warmly by the church members.  God has called us to reach the whole world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When someone walks into the doors of one of our churches, love should be poured out on them. Not just at the service that day, but during the weeks after as well. They need to know that we are truly excited they chose to worship with us.  Occasionally I'll hear a story about someone that has visited a church and was not greeted warmly.  What's up with that?  It's a privilege for someone to come to one of our churches.  Let's reach out in love and let them know that Jesus loves them and we'll sure try.

Loving for the abundant life

Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. The greeters at Hopewell
2. People that are not members and came and worshipped at Hopewell today
3. Jesus wants people to come to Him. Matthew 11:28-“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.